The future of writing?
While artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools may sound like a dream come true for those with high content demands in their life or business, there are many concerns about the legalities of its use for publication and what using these tools might mean for the future of writing and publishing.
With the advent of AI, writing tools can now generate content for you, from as little as title ideas to entire chunks of content for blogs and paragraphs to chapters.
When it comes to writing, there are a lot of different tools that you can use to make the process easier. One of which may be, QuickWrite an AI writing tool developed by Adazing, that can assist in creating written materials. As a writer, when I first crossed paths with QuickWrite, curiosity struck me immediately. But just as fast were my budding questions and concerns.
As a self-publishing consultant, I always warn my authors about how to protect their work from copyright infringement and avoid infringing on others’ copyright.
Naturally, I had to ask…
As AI technology advances, so does the legal landscape governing its use. Unfortunately, copyright law is one area of AI law that still needs to be addressed. This is because copyright law was not designed with AI in mind, and thus it needs to be clarified how to apply it to AI-generated content.
One of the key issues is that, for something to be copyrighted, it must be original. But what does originality mean in the context of AI? For example, if an AI creates a piece of content, is it considered the author of that content and therefore entitled to copyright protection? Or, is the source of the idea that prompts the AI the copyright holder since the origins stem from the prompt?
It begs the question of ownership. Who owns the copyright if a human creates a piece of content using AI? Is it the human author, the AI, or both?
I asked CJ McDaniel, CEO of Adazing, what the copyright laws were around using and publishing AI-generated content.
“AI is so new that copyright, IP, and legislation are still catching up to the technology,” CJ shared, “But there are quite a few things that have already been decided.”
When I recently got an email from Adazing with the offer to test out the AI tool, I began to prompt the content generator with a fictitious story’s character names and character traits.
As I used the tool, the questions surrounding the use of the content began to emerge: Does someone else who uses the software get the same results as me? What if two different users copied and pasted the same content into a book they were separately publishing, then what? Who owns the rights to the work?
The latter assumed that two users were receiving the same content or potentially could receive the same content.
CJ explained, “First, the generated content is original, and the algorithms & AI do not copy information. They generate responses to your queries. Our AI engine has been trained on billions of words of content to give it its wealth of context and knowledge and to train it in how humans communicate. So the information you receive will be original to you; even if someone else gave it the same information, they would still get different results.”
From where does AI get its information?
For AI to work, it needs access to data. Lots of it. Where does it get this data? There are a few different sources.
One source is data that’s already been collected and organized. This can be data from previous research studies, data gathered by sensors or other devices, or data entered into databases.
Another source of data for AI is real-time data. This data is being collected in the present moment, often by devices connected to the internet.
Finally, AI systems can also generate their own data. This is often done by running simulations or trying different actions to see what works best. This data can be used to improve the AI system’s performance.
There are currently no laws regulating the use of AI-generated content. However, there are ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI to generate content, as it could be used to create fake news or manipulate public opinion. As AI technology advances, there will likely be more debate on the ethical and legal implications of using AI to generate content.
Will AI Ruin the Art of Writing?
As a writer myself, I have begun to wonder what will happen to writers if they rely too heavily on software to create content for them. Does it take away from the art form? Does it “dumb us down” as a society? Does it become one more instance where automation overcomes our opportunity to think critically and make an active choice in our decision-making process?
Kirsten (KB.) Jensen, author, poet, publishing consultant, and youth writing camp director at My Word Publishing, shares her concerns: “As someone who works with young authors, I am concerned that this could become a crutch for some writers that prevents them from honing their craft to the same level. Everything you write is a practice that builds your writing muscle. Shortcuts can be great, but what’s the cost? There’s also so much joy in writing, getting into that creativity flow. Writing fiction or poetry is like dreaming on paper. What happens when we let artificial intelligence dream for us? Do we lose joy and originality? Or enhance them? Time will tell.”
Those who understand the sheer effort it takes to commit one’s self to the craft of writing will certainly push back on AI writing tools.
As with any new technology, there are always initial concerns. For now, however, it is best to consider AI writing tools as our collaborators instead of the sole source of our writing output.
Best Practices with AI Writing Tools
As for myself, I have started to dabble in using AI writing tools for blog posts and articles, including this one you are reading right now. However, despite these efforts, I have found that it is best used as a way to begin rather than a place to land.
As a best practice, you can prompt the tool with keywords and phrases of the subject and sub-sections of your blog and then edit and make changes to the output to put it in your own words.
Naturally, you will find that AI writing tools leave big gaps in the literature that only a human eye right now can pick up. Does it do the job? Sure. Does it do it really well? Not quite.
As Zev Gotkin determines in a recent podcast episode on writing in the age of open AI Chat GPT, he describes how the advent of AI writing tools has shifted the standards of what society will view as quality writing. He explains, “if the bottom of the writing barrel were ‘incoherent pieces of copy’, it [Ai writing tools] has eliminated the bottom of the barrel…I like to say ‘bad’ is gone, ‘average’ has become bad, ‘good’ has become average, and ‘great’ has become good. So what do you need to be? You need to be very great!”
final thoughts
Using this tool taught me that although AI can provide us with research and background on a topic, it cannot provide you with your own opinion. Our opinions are based on the research we read and discover, which naturally leaves bias, so it’s always important to fact-check and do your due diligence as a writer or reporter—not only for yourself but also for your future readers.
Even more importantly, before forming your own opinions and preconceived notions of AI writing tools, check out QuickWrite for yourself. It’s fun to dabble around and see what the tool can and can’t offer you as a writer.
Let us know what you think about AI writing tools and if you think they will impact literary works’ in the future.
